Known for being of the leading promoters of the extreme-left “defund the police” movement for Congress, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) has reportedly married one of the private security guards who was hired by her campaign team.
Bush was reportedly married in a private ceremony this past week to Cortney Marritts in the wake of signing a marriage license with him just a scant few days prior.
KSDK, a local affiliate for NBC, issued a report that the campaign for Bush issued Merritts over $62,359 in direct payments throughout 2022 for various security services rendered and a total of $2,359 for cash reimbursements.
These payments issued to Merritts started just after the pair entered a relationship with each other, expressed the report, highlighting the idea that the campaign expense could end up bringing the attention of both the Congressional Ethics Office and the FEC.
“Campaign funds are not to be used to enhance a Member’s lifestyle, or to pay a Member’s personal obligations,” expressed the rules of the House. “Members have wide discretion in determining what constitutes a bona fide campaign or political purpose to which campaign funds and resources may be devoted, but Members have no discretion whatsoever to convert campaign funds to personal use.”
One spokesperson for Bush stated in a Monday evening release confirmation of the marriage, stating that Merritts was “the love of [Bush’s] life.”
“Mr. Merritts, a veteran of the U.S. Army and a security professional, has been Congresswoman Bush’s partner since before her Congressional tenure and is not employed by her Congressional office,” expressed the statement. “Our team has come to know and appreciate Mr. Merritts as a loving and caring Congressional spouse.”
Bush is well-known for being strongly against law enforcement and has on numerous occasions called for the total defunding of the police force and has since doubled down on the position when confronted by left-wing media organizations.
“If you could do it again, would you still double down or use that slogan, ‘defund the police?'” questioned CNN host Don Lemon back in October 2022.
To which Bush simply responded, “Absolutely.”
Bush ended up making a similar statement around the same time as part of an interview with ABC News when she was questioned regarding whether or not her stances could end up hurting a number of highly vulnerable Democrats in more competitive districts.
“The thing about ‘defund the police’ is we have to tell the entire narrative,” fired back Bush. “People hear ‘defund the police,’ but you know what they’ll say, say ‘reallocate,’ say ‘divest,’ say ‘move,’ but it’s still the same thing.”
“We can’t get caught up on the words,” Bush went on to conclude. “People spend more time focusing on the word ‘defund’ than they spend on caring and addressing the problem of police violence in this country.”